Alex Berezow

Author: alex.berezow

  • Consensus Is Part of the Scientific Method

    I like to imagine the scientific method as resembling the solar system. The planets, traveling in perfect orbits, represent the pillars of the scientific method: Observations, hypotheses, predictions/experiments, and continuous refinements. What holds all of this together — the inward tug of gravity in this analogy — is consensus.

  • To Your Health: Is Wine Good for You or Is It Not?

    FEW things arouse such warm adulation and sharp denunciation as alcohol. It is beloved by some and despised by others, and its consumption is governed by legal and religious rules. Wine is central to Christian rites but is widely considered by Muslims to be forbidden by the Quran. It is also the subject of debate…

  • Drug Supplies: Track Marks

    MOST of the world’s supply of cocaine comes from just three South American countries: Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Much of it is headed for the United States and Europe. Law-enforcement officials from America patrol international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, hoping to seize cocaine shipments before they reach their intended destinations. When they…

  • A New Way to Understand the World’s Rarest Minerals

    Two geologists have developed a system for classifying some of the most elusive substances on the planet. Read the rest at The Atlantic. 

  • Mosquitoes, This Time It Is War

    The Zika virus, which is spreading like wildfire throughout the Americas and is linked to a head-shrinking birth defect called microcephaly, is just the latest in a long list of mosquito-transmitted diseases that make the insects the world’s deadliest animal. It is time to launch a global initiative to eradicate them. Read the rest at USA…

  • Maths Study Shows Conspiracies ‘Prone to Unravelling’

    It’s difficult to keep a conspiracy under wraps, scientists say, because sooner or later, one of the conspirators will blow its cover. A study has examined how long alleged conspiracies could “survive” before being revealed – deliberately or unwittingly – to the public at large. Read the rest at BBC News. 

  • Hormesis: Is the ‘Low-Dose Effect’ Real?

    Though hormesis sounds like something a homeopath would invent, there is actually plenty of evidence that this effect exists.

  • How Chemists Plan to Sniff Out Bombs

    The suicide bombers in the Paris attacks used an explosive that is relatively easy to synthesise at home. Chemists, however, are leading an effort to develop sensors to sniff it out. Read the rest at BBC News.

  • U.S. on Verge of Multi-Party System?

    A major political realignment seems imminent.

  • The Bacteria that Live in Your Coffee Maker

    This article was originally posted on RealClearScience. Wherever you live, bacteria live. Wherever you can’t live, bacteria live. From hydrothermal vents to acid mines, microbes have the planet covered. They also have your Nespresso machine covered. Recently, Spanish researchers decided to inventory the microbial community that dwells inside George Clooney’s favorite coffee maker.